Woohoo my HD-DVD drive 360 add on has just turned up from gameplay!

[sneeks]

I don't think the PS3 will sell as well in the UK as Sony originally hoped it would. The cost is plain silly and alot of people I know who were waiting for the PS3 have opted to buy a 360 instead. These same people will be buying the HD DVD addon too.

If you read gaming forums online you'll see many people have decided to choose the same route.

 

[Moby]

I thought these weren't due to be released until the 8th of December?

Anyone know anywhere that has them in stock?

Cheers.

1st of December is the release date - good luck in finding stock though! most people who have one pre-ordered month ago.

You could try your local PC World and ask them today before they put them on the shelfs tomorrow!

Cheers Buddy - I'll do that

 

[McBunny]

by the time the ps3 is out it will have 2 xmas's lead and tbh im not sure there is anyway to fight back

 

[Chris n nic]

I was waiting for the PS3 but in the end opted for the 360...and I'm glad I did....I'll probably have had the 360 for nearly 12 months by the time the ps3 comes out and, although the recent builds of games looks very good I haven't really seen anything that the 360 couldn't do...

Chris

 

[Aberclio182]

HD-DVD

Universal Studios
The Weinstein Company
Paramount Pictures
Warner Bros
New Line
HBO
DreamWorks
Image Entertrainment
Magnolia Pictures
Brentwood Home Video
Warner Music Group
Ryko
Goldhil Entertainment
Studio Canel

Blu-ray

Paramount Pictures
Warner Bros
20th Century Fox
Walt Disney Company
Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Lions Gate Home Entertainment
Metro-Goldwyn Mayer
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Digital Playground

 

[rich[182]]

HD-DVD

Universal Studios
The Weinstein Company
Paramount Pictures
Warner Bros
New Line
HBO
DreamWorks
Image Entertrainment
Magnolia Pictures
Brentwood Home Video
Warner Music Group
Ryko
Goldhil Entertainment
Studio Canel

Blu-ray

Paramount Pictures
Warner Bros
20th Century Fox
Walt Disney Company
Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Lions Gate Home Entertainment
Metro-Goldwyn Mayer
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Digital Playground

^ If you look at the studio support it looks 50/50, however if you look at the manufacturers support for the hardware its a different picture

Only Toshiba, Thomson & Microsoft are siding with HD-DVD, theres over a dozen that are going Blu-Ray, the format war will be clearer next summer imho

 

[thecremeegg]

Anyone know if/when the 360 will have a built in HD-DVD drive?

 

[wozzaa]

^doubt they. If bluray takes off they will just create an addon blu ray drive though more than likely.

But the PS3 launch was not too successful in the States. Both the 360 and wii are outselling it. If it does not gain major support in the US it will flop and likely take blu ray with it.

 

[Rasclart]

The Wii outsold it by a huge margin mainly due to the HUGE amount of Wii's available over the PS3. PS3 is sold out in the states and Japan. Had there been more they would have sold as well.

Not sure how you are comparing 360 and PS3 sales figures as clearly thr 360 has sold more its been out a year. If you are talking recent figures then the PS3 has outsold the 360 on that basis as its a new launch item.

 

[Paul J]

How can you watch encrypted content on the 360 if it has no HDMI connection?
Also surley the digital>analogue>digital conversion does no favours for the picture on stuff you can watch!

 

[McBunny]

non of its encrypted hdcp isnt an issue (its not implimented)

 

[Paul J]

^ But it will be and at the moment MS havent confirmed its a simple firmware upgrade to allow HDMI, they are keeping schtum for some reason...

 

[McBunny]

there is no body saying it will be implimented at all it can be its just like region coding it may get implimented but nothing is at the moment

 

[Paul J]

Did you also believe DVDs wouldn't get copy protection?

Some developers are already signed up to this standard, try a new Samsung HD player for example.

Recent firmware upgrades have also occured on HD TVs that comply with the standard, see AVforums, the Philips 9830 is a good example of recently updated firmware.

 

[McBunny]

samsung make blu ray drives not hd dvd


i always knew dvd's were copy protected ever since i bought one in 1998 !
whats this standard you talk of you havent said what it is yet !

 

[Paul J]

HDCP using secure digital transmission aka HDMI

Samsungs HD upscalers if you want to be picky!

 

[McBunny]

hdcp is used on both hdmi and dvi as they are just the same bar the transmition of sound on dvi

there are no reasons for ms not to release a hdmi cable if they should so wish as the hardware can support it and then all is needed is the decryption key that can be built into the cable supposedly

ms can be fairly well trusted regarding hd-dvd standards due to the fact they are behind the design of it

 

[Paul J]

DVi indeed but not relevant if you wish to hear your telly!

Its not a standard of HD media, BluRay or HDDVD, its the secure transmission to protect film makers from piracy and it will be forced into use.

Find a statement from Microsoft that confirms the 360 will be able to comply......

 

[dk]

DVi indeed but not relevant if you wish to hear your telly!

Its not a standard of HD media, BluRay or HDDVD, its the secure transmission to protect film makers from piracy and it will be forced into use.

Find a statement from Microsoft that confirms the 360 will be able to comply......

you clearly don't know what you are talking about, why would MS support the HD-DVD (purely for movies, not games also) if they weren't confident that all these millions of customers that are going to buy it would be able to play their hd-dvd's on it, its not like we are dealing with a small company with nothing to lose, this is one of the biggest companies in the world and they must either be very confident or know something to do this in the first place.

I for one am not in the slightest bit worried, as bunny said, MS will jsut bring out a HDMI cable as and when its needed.

 

[Paul J]

And plug it into where exactly? lol

 

[Paul J]

MS are big but they dont control the world.

Upto you what you think, but EVERY media producer will be doing what they can to prevent piracy and thus use HDCP

 

[dk]

And plug it into where exactly? lol

the av port on the back of the 360!

its designed to be able to change connection types to tv's as and when as its a proprietory connection designed by them for them!

hence how they can connect VGA and component and composite from the same port all supporting different standards.

The drive isn't doing anything, its the 360 doing all the processing and outputting the image.

if they wanted to do EVERYTHING in their power to stop piracy, then why do none of the current range or any that are due to come out use HDCP?

answers on a postcard!

and i'll give you a clue, while they may want to protect their investment, they also don't want to lose it by immediately cutting its purchasing population by millions, hmmmm, okay, shall we have a few copies pirated and have massive sales or shall we stop piracy and also not let millions of our potential customers buy hd-dvd's as they won't work on their players.

that would be handing the format war to blu-ray in a second.

Please so think about it before commenting again. I'd be interested to hear your response to that.

 

[Paul J]

HDCP is still in development, it will be used and the 360 cannot support it at present.

These are facts you seem to not acknowledge as such.

They will not allow piracy to increase initail sales lmfao.

This is not at all a BluRay Vs HD-DVD issue, both will use it.

I am sure MS will get around this issue but the question is how.

 

[McBunny]

MS are big but they dont control the world.

Upto you what you think, but EVERY media producer will be doing what they can to prevent piracy and thus use HDCP

hdcp isnt to stop piracy !! well it is but only very simple pluging it into a dvd recorder and recording an analogue output thats all

the copy protection on hd dvd is aacs audio watermark protection and it can use ict but 5 of teh 6 studios have decided not to impliment ict for the moment

 

[McBunny]

hdcp is just to protect data going across a digital connection nothing more it has nothing to do with the media

hdcp has been used for quite some time its implimented in vista. i know the 360 doesnt support it at the moment as there is no need for it as it doesnt output a digtal signal !!!!!

 

[Paul J]

hdcp is just to protect data going across a digital connection nothing more it has nothing to do with the media

hdcp has been used for quite some time its implimented in vista. i know the 360 doesnt support it at the moment as there is no need for it as it doesnt output a digtal signal !!!!!

I know not about Vista but the rest we agree on.

Time will tell, but im sure 360 will require more development in the future to work as a HD DVD player. Feel free to remind if im wrong lol

 

[dk]

HDCP is still in development (nope its all ready AFAIk), it will be used and the 360 cannot support it at present.(doesn't need to, no discs use it)

These are facts you seem to not acknowledge as such. its not used so why worry?

They will not allow piracy to increase initail sales lmfao. errr, yes, its all about sales, the majority of people will buy, not pirate, but if the discs won't work on their system, they are losing sales, i would estimate that the biggest potential audience of High definition disc sales is currently the HD-DVD addon for the 360.

This is not at all a BluRay Vs HD-DVD issue, both will use it.it is if they implemented HDCP on all discs and no 360 owners could play them but as the ps3 uses HDMI they would, that would mean blu-ray would have loads of customers and HDDVD few so in a way it is about that. The easiest and cheapest way to get a bluray or hd-dvd drive in the world is to get a 360 or ps3, they are accounting for the majority of sales

I am sure MS will get around this issue but the question is how.if you are sure they will get around it then why are we having this conversation as you have just proved yourself wrong?

 

[Paul J]

HDCP is still in development (nope its all ready AFAIk)(In use but in constant development as per firmware upgardes on mothly basis), it will be used and the 360 cannot support it at present.(doesn't need to, no discs use it)(but they will *bangs head*)

These are facts you seem to not acknowledge as such. its not used so why worry?(see above)

They will not allow piracy to increase initail sales lmfao. errr, yes, its all about sales, the majority of people will buy, not pirate, but if the discs won't work on their system, they are losing sales, i would estimate that the biggest potential audience of High definition disc sales is currently the HD-DVD addon for the 360. (MS rushed it out to beat playstation but now have future issues that sony should have sorted by release)

This is not at all a BluRay Vs HD-DVD issue, both will use it.it is if they implemented HDCP on all discs and no 360 owners could play them but as the ps3 uses HDMI they would, that would mean blu-ray would have loads of customers and HDDVD few so in a way it is about that. The easiest and cheapest way to get a bluray or hd-dvd drive in the world is to get a 360 or ps3, they are accounting for the majority of sales (MS beat the protection systems development but now has to overcome the issue presented to them)

I am sure MS will get around this issue but the question is how.if you are sure they will get around it then why are we having this conversation as you have just proved yourself wrong? (they have no choice to overcome it but at what cost? Another add-on to the system? price gap closes with the technologicly advanced PS3/BluRay)

.

 

[McBunny]

you say the ps3 is more technologically advanced in what way as teh cpu isnt great and the gpu is very old hat compared to the 360 dx10gpu

 

[Paul J]

oh god this debate could rumble on so i wont bother, try PS3 vs 360 on google and see plus points for each. I know the answer and its not one sided.

Not mine but i do know who's and results

You cant seriously say the PS3 CPU isnt great tho please.

 

[McBunny]

it isnt that good its very powefull in some situations but it has serious limitations brought about by its design not to mention the os taking control of the cores just to do tasks for the os rather than playing the software also its has servere memory limitations

 

[McBunny]

just read this and see what you think

http://dpad.gotfrag.com/portal/story/35372/?spage=1

 

[Paul J]

^ Gives a good insight to just how different these machines are yet how closely they compare.

Seems the owner of the above is yet to be swayed either way

Too early to say..... technically I think they are both on par with each other tbh in reality. The 360 has had a head start and the PS already has an installed consumer base.

Personally I think Sony dominance will not be as straight forward this time round.

What should you buy now...... I would say the 360 at the moment. It has more software available NOW. Just to highlight that, even though I have a PS3 sitting there I have been bashing Gears of War on the 360 all week..... awesome game imho.

Don't get me wrong, the PS3 is an awesome bit of kit, but until they get some good games coming out it's hard to judge.

 

[dk]

.

let me guess, you don't own a 360 mand intend to buy a ps3, well i was you 2 yrs ago and then i saw the light.

i am now enjoying hd movies and great games, the people waiting for ps3 are just twidling their thumbs, i will have the last laugh, but hey, whos counting

 

[Rasclart]

Out of the blue the 2 X HD-DVD players I ordered turned up from Amazon this morning.

Also yesterday my PS3 turned up from HK, the only Blu-Ray title I had was Full Metal jacket, doesnt show Blu-Ray in a great light but was damn good for the age of the film. However the Black hawk Down and Taledega Nights trailers I downloaded from Sony Store were stunning. Just waiting for a few titles to come in the post.

First impressions of the hd-dvd drive were also good. Only title is King Kong and that was damn good only watched the fight between Kong and T-Rex.

The reason for adoptinf both is simply I want to be able to watch ALL the films not some because they are on the other format.

Had a quick play of the Motorstorm demo which looked good and was excellent fun. I am neither a Sony or MS fanboy I just wanted the best of both worlds and the best thing is the PS3 cost me 80 quid less than it would have cost me if I waited till march and I get to watch US releases as well of Blu Ray

 

[Rasclart]

ohhh and wait for pictures later of the box hiding under my bed

 

[dk]

Out of the blue the 2 X HD-DVD players I ordered turned up from Amazon this morning.

Also yesterday my PS3 turned up from HK, the only Blu-Ray title I had was Full Metal jacket, doesnt show Blu-Ray in a great light but was damn good for the age of the film. However the Black hawk Down and Taledega Nights trailers I downloaded from Sony Store were stunning. Just waiting for a few titles to come in the post.

First impressions of the hd-dvd drive were also good. Only title is King Kong and that was damn good only watched the fight between Kong and T-Rex.

The reason for adoptinf both is simply I want to be able to watch ALL the films not some because they are on the other format.

Had a quick play of the Motorstorm demo which looked good and was excellent fun. I am neither a Sony or MS fanboy I just wanted the best of both worlds and the best thing is the PS3 cost me 80 quid less than it would have cost me if I waited till march and I get to watch US releases as well of Blu Ray

i intend to buy the ps3 as i like the best of both worlds but while 2 yrs ago i would never have seen myself as absolutely loving the 360 and not worrying about the ps3 being put back, that is the case now, when i have GOW and COD3 and HD-DVD, I wouldn't have any more time for anything else anyway, although i would like the ps3 for the bluray drive, there aren't any games on ps3 i am currently craving for, even the new GT isn't bue until 2008 now and that p1sses me off as they now aren't going to do the mobile GT for the PSP until the new GT is out, so a long wait.

 

[rich[182]]

Seems to be a lot of people also holding back on choosing a 360 v PS3 based on the HD-DVD v Blu-Ray war too, imo this shouldn't be taken into account as I'd always buy a dedicated player to watch DVD's anyway, def wouldn't buy an external HD-DVD drive for a 360, but then again nor would I currently be one of the early adopters of HD-DVD either, gonna wait til at least this time next year

 

[dk]

Seems to be a lot of people also holding back on choosing a 360 v PS3 based on the HD-DVD v Blu-Ray war too, imo this shouldn't be taken into account as I'd always buy a dedicated player to watch DVD's anyway, def wouldn't buy an external HD-DVD drive for a 360, but then again nor would I currently be one of the early adopters of HD-DVD either, gonna wait til at least this time next year

so what exactly is wrong with the HD-DVD addon for the PS3, how is it inferior?

If you could tell the difference then great but I certainly wouldn't be able to, the picture is amazing and i can't fault it, its even very quiet.

And really, its not about being an early adopter, if only the £500 player was out then fair enough but for £130 its within everyones budget and if you want certain films in high def you have no choice but to buy hd-dvd and if you want a choice of all films then you will need a blu-ray player too which is why i am buying the ps3.

The quality of the 360 addon cannot be compared to the crap that was put in the ps2 to play dvd's, that was a games machine and played games well but was not designed to run dvd movies, this addon drive is specifically designed to play hd-dvd movies as it won't even play the games!


HD is here, its not the future now, its here and here to stay and if you want full choice of movies you need both players for the time being until about a years time when a dual player will come out, i'd rather have a years viewing of a superior pruduct for me £130 than wait until the price of the dedicated players come down.

Thats how I see it anyway.

 

[Longy]

Seems to be a lot of people also holding back on choosing a 360 v PS3 based on the HD-DVD v Blu-Ray war too, imo this shouldn't be taken into account as I'd always buy a dedicated player to watch DVD's anyway, def wouldn't buy an external HD-DVD drive for a 360, but then again nor would I currently be one of the early adopters of HD-DVD either, gonna wait til at least this time next year

You say you defo wouldn't buy HD-DVD add-on for 360, why?

you also said you wouldn't be a early adopter? why?

Waiting for the 'War' to pan out is crazy. HD-DVD's are out NOW and work great, what is there to hold out for?

Seems to be a old stigma going around lately. Dont buy HD-DVD it will be beaten buy BR in a few years time!

Don't get the Add-on, a dedicted player is much better for £450.

Don't get MS HD-DVD is hasn't got HDMI!

and most of this just based on rumours and unknown facts - we have the actual product here and now and I dont see any complaints from people who have got it!